"Obviously you don't understand that you've taken a sniper and put him in a defensive minded system"
No they didn't. The Devils made it to the Finals with some of the most aggressive forechecking in the league. They dismantled Philly and NY with a 2-1-2 format the entire playoff series. Are you drunk or something?
"If the Devils ever decide to be an offensive team then he would flourish"
They ARE an offensive team. Kovy finished with 83 points last season. You do know that right? Did you watch more than 8 seconds of the playoffs last year? You COULDN'T have otherwise you would realize how immensely off base your comment is..
"so that means you will trap teams forever and you'll take 15-20 shots while yielding 12-20 and win games 1-0 on a fluke goal by Cam Janssen more often then not,"
For the love of God...let go of the 90's already. Stop parroting archaic NONSENSE. The Devils use the trap about as much as every other team in the league. Their forechecking has vastly improved. Kovy finished with 83 points. (37 goals and 43 assists). They also had (3) 30+ goal scorers with Elias almost a fourth at 26 goals.
The disparity of Shots Per Game in the entire league is only 7.4 The disparity of Shots Against? 5.7 That's the entire league. What does that mean?
It means that in a typical game, there's only a difference of 2.5 Shots For, per period from 1st in the league to 30th. It means that there's only a difference of 2 Shots Against, per period, from 1st in the league to 30th. Translated - Most teams are playing similar systems on any given night. Teams simply don't just "play the trap" anymore. They employ multiple strategies, at different times in the game depending on what they need to do. The Devils are NO different.
They switch between the trap, left wing lock, playing the puck, dump & chase, carrying the puck through the NZ, aggressive forecheck, passive forecheck, to name a few on ANY given night. No particular system is abused. It's a hybrid anymore. Like MOST teams in the league.
"The NHL is also returning to the "clutch and grab" it was before 2004 lockout"
Not even close. What the hell are you watching? Re-runs of the 1995 playoffs? While not calling as many penalties, refs are still calling FAR MORE obstruction penalties than they did pre-lockout. How can you write something so asinine and still call yourself a hockey fan?
You really need to THINK before you comment.